Frost

First up, we have the Temple of Kotmogu, where the Alliance and the Horde clash over ancient artifacts that date back to the dawn of recorded history… and it’s up to you to secure the secret power of the mogu for your faction.When you’re done bashing orc or human heads in Pandaria, head on down to the newly opened Silvershard Mines in Stranglethorn Vale and retrieve a resource that is much more mundane (but not one bit less important) than the enigmatic energies of the mogu: diamonds! Claim the mine for your side, and you’ll seize its glittering prizes.

Next, we’ve just updated the Mists of Pandaria bestiary page with new info on the denizens of the time-lost continent. There, you’ll learn more about the fiendish sha, the insectoid mantid, the reptilian saurok, the humble grummles, and the proud yaungol.

As always, stay tuned; there’s still more to come as we inch closer to the release of Mists of Pandaria.

Check out the full text of the Battleground previews after the cut!

Silvershard Mines

Blizzard Entertainment

Diamonds! Stranglethorn Vale’s Silvershard mines are full of the gleaming gems, and, while they’re pretty to look at, they’re far more important for what they can buy: new blades, ballistae and battle-gear for the soldiers of the Alliance and Horde. Neither faction wants its opposition digging up diamonds – not when the other option is to spill their enemies’ blood on the rocks and make off with the loot in Venture co. mine carts!

Play Overview

Silvershard Mines is the site of a race for resources between two teams, one Alliance and one Horde. Each faction escorts mine carts filled with Silvershard diamonds – and the carts (self-propelled through goblin engineering) just keep on coming.

Carts under your control provide your team with an ongoing trickle of resources. When they reach the mine depot at the end of their track, they provide a huge volume of resources to the team that ‘captures’ them.

To seize the most diamonds for your faction, you’ll need to keep mine carts under your control, defend them from the enemy faction, and ensure that you try to break your enemies’ control on ‘their’ carts.

Be the first team to reach their diamond quota!

Unique Gameplay Elements

Carts

Venture co. mine carts appear in the center of the map, and automatically move along the tracks to their destination – one of three diamond drop-off points at the end of the tracks. They’ll keep appearing and heading down the tracks until one team wins.

Multiple carts can move along different tracks at once, so don’t be afraid to split your efforts in order to control the highest number of carts.

Your team gains control of a cart when there are more members of your team than members of the opposing team in range of that cart. While you have control of a cart, you’ll accrue resources every few seconds.

If you capture a cart – if your team is in control when the cart reaches its destination – your team will receive a large number of resources. When a cart is captured, another cart will appear shortly after in the center of the map.

No more than 3 carts can be active at one time (one cart per track).

Tracks

Carts automatically proceed along 3 different tracks in the Silvershard mines. Each track is a different length – though capturing a cart will earn you the same number of resources regardless of which track the cart is on, you have an opportunity to earn more resources while proceeding down a longer track.

Keep this tradeoff in mind, because you can change a cart’s route, directing it to a different track by hitting one of the two switches found at track intersections. These switches take a few seconds to activate, but they give you the opportunity to send a cart in a different direction – ideally towards your teammates. You don’t need control of a cart to change the track that it’s on, so plan ahead to dodge your enemies and fluster their plans.

Buffs

Several buffs – temporary boosts to your effectiveness – are present in fixed locations throughout the mines. They disappear when consumed, last for a limited period of time, and reappear after a while.Restoration Buff: Restores health and mana; appears along the track.Berserking Buff: Increases damage dealt and taken; appears along the track.

Graveyards

When you die, you’ll be resurrected at a graveyard near your starting position. Rather than needing to run to your corpse in order to resurrect, you’ll be periodically returned to life after a short countdown.

How to Win

A Silvershard Mines battleground ends in only one way:Resource Victory – The first team to acquire 1600 resources is the winner.

Temple of Kotmogu

Blizzard Entertainment

During the lost days of ancient Pandaria, the ruling mogu built temples not unlike themselves – immense in size, vast in scope, and steeped in forces as old as the ground beneath their feet. Stony statues of the mogu still glare down from their long-vacant temples, and echoes of their supremacy persist to the present day. Inside the autumnal Temple of Kotmogu, a vicious melee has erupted over artifacts the mogu left behind: treasures older than the bloodlines of human kings and the clans of orcs, orbs of power that have bathed in the energies of Pandaria for ages. Will they bring the might of the mogu to the Horde or Alliance?

Play Overview

The struggle to absorb the power of ancient mogu artifacts begins with entrants to the temple outside its gates on opposed sides. At the beginning of the battle, each faction’s group will burst through the gates and rush to claim the orbs that appear in the four corners of the temple.

Once you or your teammates have retrieved an orb, hold onto it as long as you can; continuing to hold an orb will net you a steady stream of points.

Protect the orb holders on your team from the attacks of your enemies – they earn a significant amount of victory points! Also, be sure that your team strikes at the opposing team’s orb carriers for the very same reason.

Unique Gameplay

Orbs

Victory in the Temple of Kotmogu is determined by success in capturing and holding four powerful mogu orbs. The four orbs (green, blue, purple and orange) wait in four corners of the map.

Holding an orb earns your team victory points for as long as it’s held – but the power radiated by the orb also grants you the aspect of the mighty mogu, enlarging you to make you a clear target for your opposition. Orb-holders deal and receive increased damage, and the healing they receive is reduced. These effects are minor at first, but they increase quickly over time while the orb-holder lives.

A player can only pick up one orb at a time (though multiple teammates can pick up multiple orbs); holding an orb also prevents you from using your mount. If you’re slain while holding an orb, it will be returned to its point of origin inside the temple.

Victory Points

Holding an orb in different parts of the zone will net your team differing amounts of power, represented as victory points. Stay in the center of the map to earn the most points – the surrounding plaza earns slightly fewer, and holding an orb outside of the temple even less (though you’ll have more room to maneuver). The farther you are from the heart of the temple, the fewer points you’ll earn.

Delivering a killing blow to one of your enemies will net your team a significant number of victory points.

Graveyards

When you die, you’ll reappear at a graveyard outside the temple, in the corners of the map. Rather than needing to run to your corpse in order to resurrect, you’ll be periodically returned to life after a short countdown.

How To Win

A Temple of Kotmogu battleground ends in only one way:Resource Victory – The first team to acquire 1600 victory points is the winner.

评论

评论来自 Tenjen

on 2012-08-27T09:19:24-05:00

in before the jokes about WoW Fortress. Team red (horde) and team Blue (alliance).

I like the sound of these new pvp BG's.

评论来自 subanark

on 2012-08-27T13:02:20-05:00

It sounds like they changed the design since their original statement. Mainly to make it simpler. The original mine cart proposal had players interfering each other mine carts instead of all of them being neutral. I do wonder if control transfers instantly, which would result in entire teams zerging whichever mine cart is about to finish (assuming the mine carts move slow enough), and it will be pretty clear early on which team is likely to win.

As for the orb BG, it seems like they have moved away from the orb constantly doing damage, and instead being more difficult to heal. This puts pressure away from the need to have lots of healers on each team, as kiting and surviving the punishment with less healing is more important than being kept up with heals. Also, it sounds like that only damage is increased while holding the orb, meaning that healers don't want to hold it as they get no benefit. I see spirit link totem being quite strong here as it ignores healing debuffs. Still though I would like to see this debuff placed on flag carries in WSG and TP instead of the current increased damage taken debuff (I really dislike it when a pair of rouges can pretty much decide a BG with smoke bomb). I assume standard invulnerabilities and stealth are not allowed while holding the orb. If the orb can be willingly dropped, then it might be beneficial to do so if you have a teammate in the area to pick it up (instead of dying while your opponents have one).